Warning: this post contains a handful of mild spoilers. They’re nothing important, mind, but Game of Thrones fans tend to get very precious about it and this notice is more of a formality.

The Game of Thrones TV series is officially past its best. Trust me, I’ve read the books; it is past its best. After Ned Stark, the Red Wedding, the Purple Wedding and the Bear and the Maiden Fair, anything new that could potentially have television viewers raving “OMG OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HAPPENED” on their social media feeds will have been manufactured specially for television… which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But in 100 per cent of cases where the TV show deviated from the book, it has been of absolutely no consequence. Case in point: the fight between Brienne of Tarth and The Hound. Why? He was always going to die, and she was always going to continue her search. Anyway, nothing particularly interesting happens in A Feast For Crows nor A Dance With Dragons… well, nothing as shocking as the Red Wedding anyway.

The Game of Thrones TV series is going to start getting really pear-shaped for book readers such as myself. Book readers and anyone who’s seen Season 4 will know the show has already caught up with Bran Stark’s storyline in A Dance With Dragons. I’ve heard that from the next season onwards, the people who run the TV show will be making up whatever happens to Bran next, with author George RR Martin’s blessing. That’s a dick move by all involved. If I had to choose between the books and the TV show, I’d probably stick with the books because…

Netflix is twelve bucks a month. Foxtel is, at a minimum, around $95 a month. Even if my entire family watches twice as much television as it currently does, it wouldn’t reach half our internet account’s data cap. And even if Netflix doesn’t have as much content as Foxtel, it’s still more than what I’m physically ever going to be capable of watching at any given time, nevermind the fact that the majority of Foxtel-made shows are gag-inducing fare.

I don’t believe in piracy. I’m not making a value judgement on anyone who indulges the behaviour, but I do find that most people who defend piracy are really just looking for a way to justify their greedy, consumerist tendencies. I’d sooner just wait a year, buy the boxed-set and binge the lot. Until then, I’ve got House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, The Invincible Kimmy Schmidt, Daredevil and more on Netflix to keep me busy.

So I guess I lied: I’m not really quitting Game of Thrones – I’m just quitting Game of Thrones on Foxtel. Or you could just say I’m quitting Foxtel, and Game of Thrones was the one obstacle I had to get over… which wasn’t hard, to be honest.

“But Netflix doesn’t have sports,” I’ve heard some people moan. Well, you’ve got me there. I don’t give much of a shit for sports. But if I’m able to keep up with the entire season of NFL from Australia, plus pre-season games, playoffs and the Superbowl without any help from Foxtel, I’m sure everyone else can find a way.

HEY just to correct you on Foxtel — it’s not $90 a month — it’s $45 for the channel pack that includes Game of Thrones, or $30 on Foxtel Play with the current Game of Thrones offer. And actually the starting price is now only $25.

Thanks for the info! The kindly phone operator at Foxtel told me all of this as I was cancelling my service. Thing is, I never received such an offer from them, nor any information to that effect. I wouldn’t be too surprised if there are others who have also spent the past months needlessly spending so much – their communications strategy is sketchy at best.

Trying to understand how much I need to pay and how many devices I’m allowed to use and what I’m allowed to watch on Foxtel is like trying to put together furniture. It shouldn’t be that hard. But this much I will say is clear: $25 for the starting service versus twelve bucks for, well, everything, is still an economic no-brainer 🙂

“I don’t believe in piracy. I’m not making a value judgement on anyone who indulges the behaviour, but I do find that most people who defend piracy are really just looking for a way to justify their greedy, consumerist tendencies.” I agree with this 100%. But unfortunately I think this view is largely confined to people who have been involved in content creation and understand how expensive it is, and how revenue-strangled budgets can directly affect the employment prospects of people in these industries. I agree that most people who like piracy hide behind the excuses about content availability etc simply because they want to get enjoyable stuff for free and feel justified in doing it. I haven’t pirated content for about 10 years I reckon, and I haven’t had any trouble buying content at reasonable prices in most cases — usually cheaper than the DVD boxed set at least. I do, on the other hand, regularly breach civil contracts and access iTunes US and other US-based services which I concede deprives Australian distributors of their clip of the ticket, but I feel that this is justifiable as I’m still paying for the content.

“I do, on the other hand, regularly breach civil contracts and access iTunes US and other US-based services which I concede deprives Australian distributors of their clip of the ticket, but I feel that this is justifiable as I’m still paying for the content.”

I’m actually 100% okay with that. To me, that’s no different from buying DVDs and Blu-rays from overseas, which is perfectly legal. It’s more of a trademarks issue to me, not a copyright issue, though rights holders have a tendency to muddle the two and label all of it “theft”.